Ballers Blog Sports Personality of the year
- Charlie Hynes
- Dec 5, 2017
- 6 min read
Throughout any sportsmen or women's childhood they dream of many achievements and accolades they will win when they are the best in the would. They dream of World domination in their sport winning trophies like the World cup, the Ashes or an Olympic gold medal. However, There is one award that is far more prestigious than the rest that is the pinnacle of many great sportsmen's career, Many great sportsmen have tried and failed to win this award over the years and only the greats have managed it get their name on the illustrious trophy. I am of coarse talking about the very special BBC Sports Personality of the Year award if you hadn't worked it out from the title. This years contenders have been released and there has been debate about whether some contenders have rightfully earned their place among some of sports great athletes. So if you haven't worked this out yet I'm going to go through the athletes that have been unlucky to miss out on a place on the list and who deserves the awards for their contribution to British sport in 2017.
Young Sports Personality of the Year
For our first award of the night we will be identifying one of our best up and coming stars in British sport. The winner of this award is on the list for the BBC's award on 17th December in Liverpool. This contender came out of no where to become an exciting prospect for many fans of their sport and give these fans hope for the future. 2017 was the year of the England youth teams with the under 20's and under 17's both winning the World cup at their age group which excited many optimistic England fans. This winner comes from the under 17's side and was a key part of this impressive side scoring 8 goals in the tournament winning the tournament's golden boot. He gained media attention in the tournament for his two hat tricks in consecutive games against the US and Brazil in the Quarter Finals and Semis and with a goal in the final to start England's astounding comeback against Spain. This individual has fought off many other emerging stars to win this award such as Team GB gymnast Ellie Downie and Harlequins 18 year old fly half Marcus Smith who both had a big impact upon their teams. Hopefully the winner of this award will be able to break into their club side so they can become more experienced and earn a spot in the senior England side. So without any further hesitation the winner is Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster.
Team of the Year
There are many options that I could go with for this award with the England Rugby union side winning the six nations, their cross code neighbours reaching the world cup final, England women football team reaching the European championship semi finals as well as the England women cricket side winning the World cup. Hopefully the men's side can replicate this form in the current Ashes series. However, The team I have chosen are a small sided team that saw each team member perform at the best when it counted. The team were massive underdogs as all the attention was on a team featuring a certain Olympic hero vs a team with a future Olympic champion and a drug cheat world champion. The British team were outsiders to even get a medal in this event but massively exceeded expectation by making the most of home advantage and stealing the Gold from the American all stars after a disappointing World athletic championships for team GB. This team was made up of the future stars of 100 metre sprinting which were Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili, Daniel Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake so the winner is the Team GB's 4x100m relay team that shocked the world.
Coach of the Year
This coach has not just been greatly influential over the past year but has transformed his club over the past 8 years using the resources he already had at the club and growing and nurturing their talent in the youth set up. 8 years ago this coach took over this west country side when they were in the 2nd division of English rugby and manged to get them promoted to the Premiership where over the years they have developed into a a title contending side. In the 2015/16 season they finished second and reached the final but lost to an formidable Saracens side. However this year they went one better and won the Premiership beating an exciting Wasps side in a thrilling final. This comes only 7 years after being promoted to this league and has built a legacy at the club. I am of coarse talking about Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter.
Lifetime Achievement Award
One man has dominated the athletics scene for a long while now and has become one of the most iconic sportsmen of a generation. However, all good things must come to an end and it isn't always a happy ending. This athlete declared 2017 was going to be his swansong year and everyone hoped that he would be able to finish with a gold in the 100 metres and 4x100 relay but not all dreams can come true as he finished 3rd in the 100 metres and had to retire after pulling up with an injury in the home straight in the relay. This was a sad ending to a glistening career in which he won 8 Olympic gold medals and 8 world championship golds and made everyone fall in love with him due to his friendly and outgoing character. He will forever be known as the man that made athletics cool. Farewell Usain Bolt, a legend.
Overseas Sports Personality of the Year
The winner of this award is one that was not included on the BBC's list and managed to rise to world no.1 in a very competitive year of women's tennis. With the great Serena Williams on maternity leave it left all four grand slam's wide open with a number of potential contenders for each title. This gave a certain Spaniard a opportunity to make her mark on the tennising world and this came in possibly the most prestigious and exciting grand slam of the year, Wimbledon.This was possibly one of the best women's tennis tournaments we have seen in recent times and many said it was better than the mens draw. On her way to the coveted Venus Rosewater dish she beat the then world no.1 Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams in the final 7-5 6-0. This saw her take world no.1 in september after Pliskova lost her US Open Quarter final against Coco Vandeweghe. Even when Serena comes back I feel she will need to work hard to take the title off the incredibly consistent Garbine Muguruza.
Ballers Blog Sport Personality of the Year
Now here is the one you've all been waiting for, the main award of the night. I have gone for an athlete on the BBC shortlist that I believe is one of the most unrated and under credited athletes of our generation. He has always lived in the shadow of his predecessor after helping him to the title in 2012 after he had an opportunity to win it for himself. Since his teammate left his team he has been a dominant force in his sport winning 4 of the last 5 Tour de France's and winning the Vuelta a Espana as well in 2017. You may have guessed who I'm talking about by now. It is of coarse the great Chris Froome. 2017 was one of the best years of his career winning the Tour De France and Vuelta a Espana in the same year and became the first rider to win the Vuelta a España and Tour de France in the same year since Bernard Hinault in 1978. I just don't understand how he has got the recognition that he deserves after winning the worlds biggest cycling race 4 times and 3 in a row. I also find it very disrespectful that he wasn't even nominated for BBC SPOTY last year after winning the title a 3rd time. He is the perfect example of a professional sportsman with his incredible work ethic and focus that he has on winning and should be an example to many British sportsmen. He shares similar characteristics with Mo Farah with his hard work and focus yet they are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of recognition as Farah is loved by the nation and a big fuss was made when he only finished 2nd at the world championships this year when leaving the track yet I feel Chris Froome would have to win the Tour de France on a unicycle to be fully appreciated. I also feel this is down to the difference in coverage as cycling tends to be put on secondary channels when athletics is put on the main channels like BBC meaning sports fans can't witness this historic athlete performing at the highest level. Congratulations Chris Froome on a fantastic 2017 and I hope this will change the public's perspective of you if you can win the BBC SPOTY which you thoroughly deserve to.
Thank you for joining us for the Ballers Blog Sports Personality of the Year and hope that the next year offers even more British sporting excellence. Maybe a even a World Cup win from the senior England side.
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